Islay 



5" 



pointed, narrowed or sometimes rounded at the base, entire-margined, bright green 

 and shining on the upper side, 

 paler and dull beneath; the leaf- 

 stalks are about i cm. long. 

 The flowers appear late in the 

 year, the clusters shorter than 

 the leaves; the slender flower- 

 stalks are 4 to 15 mm. long; 

 the calyx- lobes are very small, 

 their margins toothed ; the pet- 

 als are white, broadly obovate, 

 yellowish near the base, much 

 longer than the calyx; the 

 orange-colored stamens are as 

 long as the petals or longer. 

 The cherries are globular, 9 to 

 12 mm. in diameter, orange- 

 brown, the flesh thin, the pit ^ „, ^ ^. 



^ Fig. 472. — West Indian Cherry, 



ndged on one side. 



The wood is dense, hard, red, with a specific gravity of about 0.90. 



3. ISLAY — Laurocerasus ilicifolia (Nuttall) Rccmer 



Cerastes ilicifolia Nuttall. Prunus ilicifolia Walpers 



Inhabiting hillsides, canons, and river banks in Cahfomia and Lower Cali- 

 fornia, this fine evergreen 

 tree attains a maximum 

 height of about 10 meters, 

 with a trunk sometimes 6 

 dm. thick at the base; it is 

 usually much smaller, how- 

 ever, and often shrubby. 



The bark is quite thick, 

 red-brown and fissured. 

 The young twigs are smooth, 

 yellow-green, becoming 

 brown, the buds pointed. 

 The leaves are ovate, thick, 

 spiny- toothed, 6 cm. long 

 or less, pointed or blunt at 

 the apex, rounded, sUghtly 

 heart-shaped or narrowed 

 Fig. 473. — Islay. at the base, dark green and 



